Giving is Good
Since I don’t conduct technology-focused research and I’m not in the Artificial Intelligence market in any significant way, my best and most honest answer to this question is, “I don’t know.” But I’m also not convinced that this should be a concern for me. Here’s a quick framework to prioritize our thinking about future developments:…
In our advancement work, we consistently focus on the process of and decisions surrounding giving. We facilitate giving and gifts from donors. We guide donors on how their gifts might make the biggest difference that is meaningful to them. We thank donors for giving. Clearly, the process and the decisions involved with giving are important…
Facts don’t motivate people. Taglines don’t motivate people. Stories motivate people. People don’t create understanding from facts or taglines. People create understanding from stories. And yet, advancement folk spend significant time and effort collecting and sharing facts and wordsmithing pithy taglines – all with the hope that people will stitch together the motivational story for…
New gift officers typically have many questions. Perhaps the question that dominates the thinking of new gift officers the most is some version of the following: “Do I know enough about my new organization/the program I’m assigned to/the campaign/etc., to answer questions from donors?” Framing the question this way puts the new gift officer at…
What if we took the time to. . . listen to the perspective of others who don’t live like us? talk face to face more often instead of using a digital medium? read something written from a serious writer that challenges our worldview? volunteer to serve others or in the service of something bigger than…
Most people work in the tactical realm. To-do lists. Deadlines. Budgets. Some people lift their heads up and work in the strategy realm. Planning. Considering opportunities, strengths, and weaknesses. Coordinating tactics. But few people pause to work in the generative realm. Distinguishing which questions are most important to be asking and answering. Identifying institutional values. …
Many advancement leaders want to adopt what the “other institutions like us are doing.” Copying is safe and easy, even if whatever it is that we are copying doesn’t necessarily work well for our institution. Similarly, many advancement leaders are people pleasers. For example, if two donors out of 5,000 responded negatively to a giving…
You almost never hear someone say they are too busy to scroll social media. Or, too busy to play Words With Friends. Or, too busy to watch T.V. Or, too busy to shop online. Or, too busy to listen to the latest gossip. But, you will regularly hear people say they are too busy to…
It doesn’t matter how elevated a donor’s wealth screen score is. It doesn’t matter how generous a donor’s giving history with your institution is. It doesn’t matter if a donor attends every event you hold. It doesn’t matter how passionately a donor has previously championed your mission to others. If we invite this donor to…
“What impact would you like to make with your giving?” is a fashionable question for gift officers to ask donors. Supposedly, questions focused on “impact,” will help the donor think about increasing their giving so that the impact also will increase. But I remain unconvinced that this is a helpful line of questioning. First, many…